Tying together poetry, parenting, and advertising in a neat little package

You Can Learn a Lot From a Boysenberry

This post was originally published nearly two years ago, on Sept. 18, 2012. With summer here and berry-picking in full-swing (well, blueberries and strawberries, anyway), I thought it would be a good time to dust this off and share again, especially for those of you who have recently started following my blog and may not have had a chance to read it the first time.

Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

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Several weeks ago, I was picking berries around my property when it occurred to me that what I was doing could actually be applied to writing and producing – as well as to life in general. (What can I say – as a writer of poetry, I’ve developed a sort of radar for metaphor!)

Seriously, though, I started thinking about it and came up with five life lessons I’ve learned from berry picking. Consider these:

Patience

Just because a boysenberry looks ripe, doesn’t mean it is. The pericarp, or outer wall of the seed, may be nice and indigo-black, but leave it on the branch for another couple of days, and it’ll be practically bursting – plus, there will almost no seed left. If you can’t wait, go ahead and pick ‘em when they’re ready…you’ll definitely enjoy them. However, in berry-picking, as in life, those of us with a little patience will be rewarded greatly!

Group Effort

Speaking of seeds, have you ever tasted one boysenberry or raspberry seed by itself? Even if you did, you’d barely be able to tell, because they’re so tiny. Individually, the flavour is difficult to discern – but when you have en entire berry of bulbous seeds, that’s when you can really taste their true deliciousness. Although each one might be ripe, full, and perfectly developed, by themselves they would barely be noticed. But put them all together, and you’re talkin’ some good eating! A boysenberry truly is greater than the sum of its parts.

Tenacity

Don’t judge a bush by its branches. The berries you see hanging are likely not the only berries on the bush. Lift a few leaves, and SURPRISE! There may very well be a plethora of sweetness waiting for you underneath.

Then again, you might have to just keep looking. I love the bushes that have big, juicy berries dangling from every branch, but sometimes there just aren’t any. Sometimes you need to not only lift the leaves and poke around, but go in search of other bushes you may not even know exist. I’ve discovered plenty of good, healthy boysenberry bushes because I had to. When what you want can’t be found, it doesn’t mean it’s not there…it just means it hasn’t been found. Keep looking.

Diversity

When you think of ‘berries,’ what comes to mind? Raspberries? Blueberries? Strawberries? Even if you’re into the more exotic varieties like wolfberries (also known as goji berries) or acai berries, we all tend to think of berries as having a particular ‘look.’ Most people don’t realize how diverse the berry family actually is.

Case in point: which of the following is, botanically speaking, a berry?

If you guessed “all of them,” well, congratulations – you obviously studied hard on your Botany 301 exam while your drunk college roomates were having that wet t-shirt contest the night before finals. Yes, every single one of these is, indeed, a true berry. I’ll save you the details on why; suffice it to say that it has to do with how they grow and develop. And you know what? Boysenberries, raspberries, and strawberries aren’t true berries.

Ain’t that a kick in the head?

Rebirth/Renewal

This final point is not as metaphysical as it sounds; it’s actually a fact of nature. Boysenberry bushes grow on a two-year cycle – one year, they will produce tons of berries, the next year, hardly anything. Then the following year, the berries are back! So in order to try to guarantee berries every year, the bushes need to get cut down to only about a foot high at the end of the season. Pruning puts the bushes in ‘regrowth’ mode, so to speak, so that the following year will be berry-ful.

Likewise, in writing, audio production, or even life, sometimes it helps to just stop what we’re doing and start over from where we started having problems, if not from the beginning. Is there a friend or family member who is constantly causing you grief? If they are a drain on your emotions, perhaps it’s time to simpy end the relationship and move on. Are you having trouble reconciling a plot point or fleshing out a character? Perhaps you need to consider revising your plot – or eliminating or significantly changing the character. Can’t get the right sound you’re looking for in your audio production? Yes, you might just need to keep working on it…or it could be that you need to rethink your entire approach. Quitting and starting over can often be a wonderful thing, if you’re willing to try it.

Love and other metaphors…

Did you know that boysenberries, rasperries, and strawberries are part of the rose family? For someone like me, who loves berries (even if they’re not true berries!), it makes perfect sense. Roses have, for centuries, symbolized love or friendship, and being a guy, I’m not much into receiving flowers as a gift; but give me a slice of warm blueberry pie, a chocolate-covered strawberry, or even quart of fresh black raspberries, and I’m in Heaven.

Ah, yes…love is, indeed, a many-splendoured thing, and comes in a variety of shapes, colours, and flavours. And usually pint- and quart-sized containers.

Think I’ll go out to the garden and see how the tomatoes are doing.

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